Doesn’t anyone understand the objective vs nominative case pronouns anymore?
I read two–three books a week and find grammar boo boos in almost every one. That’s understandable, since sometimes it’s one of my own books I’m reading *LOL* Still, I get perturbed at the hoops that we writers jump through to submit letter-perfect material only to have it show up in print wrong. I know, it’s still a reflection on the author, but still. Where are all the editors who are supposed to be…well, editing?
Last night I was reading a book by one of my favorite authors, a witty and intelligent woman (No names in this blog, please!), and came across the following phrase:
By the time the EMTs scooted Susie and I out of the way… Screech! Nails on blackboard time.
“I” is the object of the verb “scooted,” is it not? And “I” in the objective case is “me.” So where was the editor when this went to print?
Another story in the newspaper stated that such-and-such gave to she and her husband–hello? Isn’t “gave” the verb? The objective form of she is her, not she. Sheesh!
I’m old enough to remember sentence **gulp!** diagramming. Maybe if we still diagrammed our sentences, we’d have a clearer picture in our mind of sentence structure. We’d know that the verb and a preposition are followed by an object, not a subject.
Please, when in doubt, look it up. Or write to the Grammar Cop!
Cheryl
